


Book Shops and Handshakes

by cowboykylux



Category: Marriage Story (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, Divorce, First Meetings, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:35:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25560682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cowboykylux/pseuds/cowboykylux
Summary: He’s browsing for something, some old book of plays that he can’t remember the name of, when he sees you.  You’re the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, and for the first time in a long time, he finds himself worried about what he’s wearing, how he’s dressed.
Relationships: Charlie Barber/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Book Shops and Handshakes

_Now I’m flyin’ high, but I’ve got a feelin’ I’m fallin’_

_Fallin’ for nobody else but you_

_Mama, you caught my eye and I’ve got a feelin’ I’m fallin’_

_Show me the ring and I’ll jump right through_

He’s browsing for something, some old book of plays that he can’t remember the name of, when he sees you. You’re just a few feet away, having entered the same aisle of the bookshop, the same look of determination on your face as you chew your lip, a small frown as you too search for a book you can’t quite place. 

You’re the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, and for the first time in a long time, he finds himself worried about what he’s wearing, how he’s dressed. 

He doesn’t know you, doesn’t know your name or anything about you, but he can’t stop looking at you – is enamored with the way the sunlight from the shop window kisses your skin, your hair. 

It’s a busy little shop, something that makes Charlie happy. He worries occasionally, about the state of things, the state of analog. Things like plays, musicals, books, how for a while it seemed like the digital world was going to overtake them all completely, make him obsolete.

But here he was, and there you were, the two of you running your hands over the cracked spines of used books in a small shop in Manhattan, running your hands along the spines until suddenly they collided with one another, a soft bump of fingers on fingers.

“Excuse me.” You immediately apologize, retracting your hand.

Charlie doesn’t know why, but his heart beats hard and fast, and he wonders if he can slip his wedding ring off before you can see it. He’s not really married, not really. Not anymore. She’s leaving him, Nicole is. She’s leaving across the country to chase a dream she abandoned a long time ago. 

Charlie wonders what your dreams are. 

You see it, the ring. He panics and is about to swallow his pride and leave you alone, because surely now you wouldn’t want anything to do with him – but you still blush at him, still smile at him as you shuffle behind him to gain access to the shelves on the other side of him, and his heart beats faster at the sweet smell of your perfume filling his nostrils. 

“What are you looking for?” He asks, hoping to help you look. He wants to help, wants to know you. He’s desperate, not wanting you to go away, not wanting you to leave, not wanting to ever stop looking at you. He feels like he’s crazy, when was the last time he was so intrigued by a person?

“I don’t know.” You shrug, embarrassed about that for whatever reason. Your eyes are sparkling in the most beautiful fashion, and Charlie runs through his schedule in his head, tries desperately to figure out a day that he’s free where he could sneak away and get a drink with you, a meal, a dance, anything. He’d take anything, he thinks, as you look him up and down approvingly and ask, “You?”

“I think I’ve just found it.” He replies, and there’s that beautiful bashful flush of yours again, the kind that has his palm sweating.

It’s cheesy, he knows. 

It’s dangerous, he knows that too.

But you’re extending your hand for a shake, and he takes it.

He takes it and he never wants to let go.

_I used to travel single-o; we chanced to mingle-o_

_Now I’m a-tingle over you_

_Hey, Mister Parson, stand by, but I’ve got a feelin’ I’m fallin’_

_Fallin’ for nobody else but you_


End file.
